1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a digital data manipulation. More specifically, the invention relates to a technique for progressive degradation of a digital audio signal in reproduction.
2. Description of Related Art
The combination of computer technology and digital audio recording technology has made it possible to reproduce or create copies of audio recordings with the same or almost the same quality as the original recordings on media such as CD (compact disc) or DAT (digital audio tape). The ability to recreate digital audio recordings, for example, music, without losing its original quality, can be a threat to copyright owners of the music and can seriously affect revenue generation for the music industry.
Thus, the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) of 1992 (Title 17, Chapter 10, of the United States Code) was enacted to prevent unrestrained and uncontrolled reproduction of music recordings published by the music industry. The AHRA includes provisions to place certain built-in limitations in digital music that are designed to prevent unauthorized reproduction of music recordings. For example, in order to avoid violation of the AHRA, an audio device must comply with the serial copy management system (SCMS), which requires the configuration that uses a single protection bit. Under the SCMS, the single bit protection is reset in the original master copy, and is set in all other second or higher generation copy versions in order to prevent unauthorized reproductions off the second or higher generation copy versions.
The existing techniques that implement the SCMS often create ineffective and inefficient solutions to prevent unauthorized recordings. In particular, it is overly simple and inflexible due to the single bit protection scheme. The use of a single bit protection is also often vulnerable to attempts to circumvent it, and is often deciphered relatively easily because modern computers are powerful and well-equipped to break the code and decipher single bit protection schemes. Once a single bit protection scheme is known, it is relatively easy to neutralize the whole protection scheme and make reproductions of the original music recordings at will.
Although there are more sophisticated encryption schemes to prevent unauthorized reproduction such as cryptographic watermarking and private copy protection scheme, they are also vulnerable to circumvention and may be deciphered by using personal computers whose processing power continues to escalate with time. In addition, cryptographic encryption schemes can be prohibitively expensive if the encryption is strong enough to prevent all unauthorized decryption attempts.
The AHRA exempts analog recordings because analog recordings will inherently degrade each successive reproductions or copying. However, the analog exemption does not apply to popular audio recording media, such as CD, because they use a digital format for recordings, not the analog format.
In view of the foregoing, it is highly desirable to provide a flexible, cost-efficient copy protection mechanism in compliance with the Audio Home Recording Act. It is also desirable to provide a mechanism that would be applicable to popular digital recording media, such as CD and DAT, that would prevent unauthorized reproduction while being strong enough to prevent circumvention or deciphering.